Vexing Luck
by Elizabeth Kururugi
Summary: Marinette made his birthday present, and Adrian is touched to have such a good friend. When he happens to catch ladybug transforming from her alter ego into his classmate, Adrian questions whether he loves the truth or whether his ideas of his masked lady are just projections. Marinette is happy to be closer to Adrian, but Ladybug is confused why Cat Noir is so distant.
1. A Little Gift

"It's winter now!" Adrien declared with a grin to Plagg.

"Why are you so happy about that? Cold weather makes my fur stand on end," Plagg complained, floating around Adrien's head.

"I can wear the scarf dad got for me again," Adrien explained, digging through his large walk-through closet. "I think I put it…here!" He snagged the blue scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

Plagg nuzzled into its folds too. "It's really soft. Hey, what's that?"

"Huh?"

Plagg pointed to the end of the scarf.

"Is it fraying?"

"No!" Plagg rolled his eyes, and flew down to the scarf's end. He lifted it up to Adrien's eyes. "See? I thought I saw a flash of gold on the edge. At first I thought it was some cheese the scarf accidently picked up, but it doesn't smell like cheese at all."

"Of course you'd think of cheese," Adrien rolled his eyes and took the scarf end in his hands. "Oh, the gold spells a name." Adrien squinted at the artisanal cursive writing. "Mar…in…ette… Marinette?"

"That weird girl?" Plagg scratched his head. "I thought your father got you this scarf?"

"Me too. I doubt he would hire a classmate to make me a birthday present. He didn't even know her until the derby hat contest. I guess Marinette made this for me. Why didn't she tell me?"

"Are you gonna stop wearing it now that you know the truth?"

"No," Adrien said quickly, turning slightly red, and avoiding Plagg's gaze. "It's soft."

"Can I sleep in it?"

"No!"

/

The bell rang, signaling the end of class for the day. Adrien waited for Nino to sling his bag over his shoulder before following his friend out.

"So get this," Adrien said as the two of them left. "My dad didn't get me this scarf. Marinette made it for me."

"Seriously? Dude, what a letdown," Nino patted Adrien's shoulder sympathetically. "I thought your dad was actually a little bit cool for a couple months there."

"Yeah, same here. There's a silver lining though. Marinette made it for me."

"She did? Dude, sweet! She's cute."

"Yeah…" Nino was right, but

Nino gave Adrien a friendly shove. "She's right over there, man. Go tell her thanks."

"Ya know what? You're right. She made a great derby hat and a great scarf for me. Might as well." Adrien broke into a warm smile and headed over.

"I'll just be waiting outside, dude," Nino told him with a little chuckle in his voice.

"Hi Marinette."

Marinette nearly dropped her books she was so surprised. She was clearly flustered, and her cheeks were cherry red in no time. "A-Adrien. Uh, um, you, I, hi!" She finally stuttered clumsily. Her eyes darted to the side, where Alya, stealthy friend that she was, had skedaddled to give Marinette and her crush some alone time. "E-Everything okay? Cuz I'm cool, everything's cool with me, but you're cooler. Like ice cold, colder than cool, like liquid nitrogen cool. Ya know?" Marinette mentally slapped herself in the face. _Idiot! Stop talking! He must've come over here for a reason!_

"Uh, yeah, okay. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about this scarf," Adrien shook his addled brain of Marinette's awkward speech patterns, and held up the end of the scarf with Marinette's name sewn in. "You made it for me, didn't you? My dad didn't get it for me."

"Yeah, I did it. I mean I made it!"

Adrien smiled, pleased. "Well, thanks. It's really soft and blue is my favorite color."

"Sure," Marinette giggled nervously.

"But why didn't you tell me earlier? Now I feel like a jerk for not thanking you sooner."

"Oh, well I saw how happy you were to have a cool gift from your dad. I didn't wanna spoil it for you."

Adrien's green eyes blinked in surprise. "Wow. Thanks, I really owe you one."

"Oh no, you don't have to worry-"

"Adrien!" Chloe cooed irritatingly. She literally threw herself into the conversation, and wrapped her arms around Adrien's neck. "Are you going to another photo shoot today? Mind if Sabrina and I tag along?" She turned, spun in a circle, and perfectly flipped her blond hair into Marinette's face. "I know the camera would love to see us together!"

Marinette growled angrily, but she took the hint. Her conversation with Adrien was over, but what a conversation it was. He'd been so sweet and happy to learn that she had made the scarf!

"So?" Alya demanded when she walked out the front doors of the school.

"He found out I made the scarf for him! He was thanking me!" Marinette squealed.

"That's what I'm talking about, girl!" Alya patted Marinette on the back. "But how did he find out?"

"I forgot I sign my name into all my designs."

"Finally you remember to sign a gift for him," Alya grinned widely. "I'm rooting for you, girl."

Marinette clutched her books closer to her chest. Her cheeks were still rosy with warmth. "Thanks…"

/

Adrien ignored Chloe's attempts to continue a conversation, mostly about her best camera angles, and watched Marinette walk away. Maybe Nino was right, maybe she was cute. How had he never noticed before? Either way, she was no ladybug. That was for sure. Marinette was just too…awkward and unsure to be the confident, bad ass, beautiful ladybug.

"No photo shoot for today, Chloe. I finally have a day for just me, so I'm spending it admiring Paris," Adrien hoped the lack of photos would deter her.

On the contrary. Her eyes lit up. "Well, this is even better!" She seized Adrien's arm. "We can walk through the city of love and lights together on our first date!" Chloe batted her eyes, leaned against Adrien's shoulder, and pressed her lips into a pout. She spotted Adrien's scarf. "Ew, and get you a new scarf that isn't pathetic."

That was it. No more nice excuses. "I like the scarf, Chloe, and I'd like to be alone. See you tomorrow." Adrien wrenched his arm free of her vice-like grasp and didn't look back as he left.

"If you wanna be alone for today, does that mean we're hanging out tomorrow instead, dude?" Nino asked, joining his bud on the walk into the city.

"Nah, you can come along. I just said that to get rid of Chloe."

Nino snorted and broke into a mischievous grin that could rival Cat Noir's. "Nice. Where to first?"

"How about the Eiffel Tower?"

"I like the way you think, my man."


	2. Denial

"I hope we can find Nino. I didn't mean to ditch him, but Paris needed its best cat on the job today," Adrien scowled regretfully.

"Yeah right," Plagg rolled his eyes. "You just wanted to see Ladybug again. Saving Paris is just a perk."

"Well…I do love Ladybug. There's nothing wrong with that. Where are we anyway?"

Plagg sniffed around and then pouted deeply. He whisked himself back into Adrien's coat to nap. "Just a stupid bakery. No cheese."

"Oh, mom used to love bakeries. The smell of bread always made her smile," Adrien smiled himself at the thought of her. "Maybe I should go in and grab a baguette."

"Do what you want," Plagg said dismissively, opening one eye. He had to open both eyes to take in what he thought he was seeing. "Ladybug?"

"Huh?"

Sure enough, the red clad heroine was swinging across the roofs of Paris straight for the bakery. Adrien lost sight of her as she soared above him. He crossed the street and hid behind a lamp post to watch her leave.

But she didn't.

Ladybug stopped on the roof of the bakery and stretched her limbs. Before Adrien and Plagg's eyes Ladybug's transformation wore off, revealing Marinette! Her small little avatar, the same size and shape as Plagg, but red with black spots, hovered around her head. There was no mistaking it. Ladybug was Marinette. Marinette was Ladybug.

"I-I-I don't-how is this-she can't be-Marinette isn't-what?" Adrien stammered as his brain shorted out.

"Are you broken?" Plagg asked, looking up at his friend.

"I need to go home."

"What?! But cheese! You promised!" Plagg wailed.

Adrien ignored him and pushed Plagg down into his coat. He speed walked all the way home. His brain was still processing what he'd just seen, so it was only by muscle memory that he was able to make it back to his father's mansion.

Plagg finally broke free in Adrien's room once the coat had been thrown against the bed. "I don't get it. So ladybug turned out to be your weird classmate, Marinette. You said you were in love with her when you didn't know anything about her! She was just a human girl in a mask. What makes knowing the truth any different?"

"Because I don't love Marinette!" Adrien cried, pacing back and forth as his panic grew. "She's just a nice girl I happen to know because we go to school together!"

"Well, did you really get to know her?" Plagg pointed out.

"Of course I know her. We see each other every day. We go to the same school for god's sake!"

Plagg shook his head. "No you don't."

"Really? I don't?" Adrien rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"What's Marinette's favorite color?"

"That's-it's-blue maybe?"

"That's _your_ favorite color!" Plagg flew around Adrien's head. "Coincidentally also the color of blue cheese, which I could do with some right now. Do you think the kitchen would bring some if you asked?"

"Focus Plagg! This is really bad!"

"No it isn't," Plagg said. "You're just disappointed that Ladybug isn't everything you believed she was. Humans are let down so easily when they don't get what they want."

"What're you talking about?"

"Maybe this is your chance to actually get to know Marinette. She hangs out with that girl Alya. Both are nice. You might find that you actually like Marinette as Marinette and not just as Ladybug. You might surprise yourself, and she might end up liking you too."

"But Ladybug doesn't like Cat Noir."

"That's why you get to know her and learn to trust her? I feel like I'm babysitting you. Grow a backbone and use it for god's sake. And where's my cheese already?!"

Adrien sighed and opened his door. He came back carrying a tray of a small selection of different cheeses. Plagg pounced on it before Adrien even set it down atop his desk.

While Plagg devoured the plate of cheese, Adrien threw himself miserably into his desk chair. He stared at the blue scarf still resting innocently on his bed.

Anger suddenly flooded through him. He whipped his laptop out and went to Alya's ladyblog he had bookmarked what felt like a million years ago. Adrien began a furiously typed out message to Alya.

Ladybug is really…

He stopped. Was this the right thing to do? Our Marinette to her best friend? What if Alya didn't believe him? She could right him off as a liar, or he'd be forcing Marinette to out her secret to her best friend before she was ready to. Even worse was outing Marinette on social media like this. Hawkmoth would know who Ladybug really was and attack her. He might not be in love with Marinette, but he didn't want to make her more of a target than she already was.

Adrien deleted his message and glanced at the scarf again.

Plagg burped and rubbed his enormous belly. "That hit the spot. Thanks."

"Sure, but thank you."

"For what?"

"Giving me good advice. I think you're right. Ladybug is Marinette, and I need to learn to see her as more than just the mask."

"Good luck!" Plagg gave Adrien a tiny thumbs up. Truth be told, he was too pleased with his belly full of cheese to pay attention to anything Adrien was saying. He would have said good luck to Adrien even if he had said he was going to go sky-diving off the Eiffel Tower.

Even so, Adrien appreciated his support.


	3. Study Buddies!

Marinette was just putting her books away when a shadow fell over her. "I'll be there in a minute, Alya. I'm just trying to get my history book back in here."

"Oh, um, I'm not Alya."

"Adrien!" Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Hi," Adrien said shortly, making Marinette's heart melt. "Um, Marinette? You in there?"

"What? Oh, sorry. Did you wanna ask me something?" Marinette's blush deepened as she realized she'd been staring at her crush for a full minute and hadn't listened to a word he'd said.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, but his tone wasn't mean-spirited. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to study together for our exams? I'm good at physics so if you're having trouble there we could trade? I'm not the best at English."

"S-Study together? Like in the same room? I mean, it'd be weird if we studied in separate rooms. We'd have to video chat or something, but it'd still work!" Marinette babbled, unable to stop herself.

Adrien laughed a little. "I was thinking same room, same place, naturally."

"Okay, great!" Marinette had to make a massive effort not to squeal. "Your place or mine? My parents won't mind as long as we keep the door open."

"Your place," Adrien's eyes darted away for a second. "My dad isn't exactly the most…welcoming."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, if we hurry, dad might have something from the bakery we can snack on."

"Sounds good. Lead the way," Adrien backed away, hand outstretched grandly.

Marinette giggled squeakily, and swallowed. She led the way out the door. Somehow the gesture reminded her of Cat Noir, but that was just silly. Her cat was definitely over the top, but he wasn't anything like Adrien.

Chloe and Sabrina were the first to spot Adrien and Marinette leaving the school together. They watched as Alya and Nino joined the two briefly and then went their separate ways towards home. However, Adrien and Marinette did not split up after they left the school's doors!

"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?!" Chloe seethed, firing her question with vigor at poor Sabrina.

"Um, Marinette and Adrien are leaving school together?" Sabrina supplied meekly.

"Duh! I'm not blind!" Chloe growled, peeking outside again. Marinette and Adrien were still leaving together, and disappeared when they rounded the corner. "How dare that little rat steal Adrien from me!"

"But Adrien isn't dating anyone."

"Of course he is! Me! Why would he want anyone else? I'm gorgeous," Chloe sniffed, flipping her ponytail.

"Very true!" Sabrina nodded, her red hair bouncing around her shoulders. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Maybe we should follow them?"

"You know what? We should follow them!"

"Okay! I'm right behind you!"

"And by 'we,' I mean you, Sabrina. I have an appointment to get my hair done that I just can't miss. You understand, right? Thanks!" With another flip of her ponytail, Chloe sauntered out if the school.

"Why me?" Sabrina whined, her shoulders sagging. Nevertheless, she took off for the corner Adrien and Marinette had turned down just a few moments ago.

/

"So are you doing okay in physics?" Adrien asked to break the silence. He hated small talk, but he had made it his goal to get to know Marinette. She was, after all, more than just Ladybug.

"Okay enough to pass," Marinette shrugged. Her face was still pink, and she still felt tense, but it was getting slightly easier to talk to him. "I can remember the formulas half the time, and the other half of the time I'm always making dumb mistakes."

"Sounds like me with English. It's the weirdest language out there. How does 'gh' make an 'f' sound?"

"I know right?" Marinette giggled. "They're totally backwards! Oh we're here!" She pulled open the front door of her father's bakery and walked inside.

Adrien followed slightly slower. He was beginning to think this was a bad idea. He'd never even met Nino's parents. Normally his dad was so strict he barely even had the chance to go outside. Thankfully, he had been able to negotiate some 'me time.' He just had to let his father know where he was.

That reminded him. Adrien quickly whipped out his phone and texted Natalie. His father hated texts, but Natalie was a tad more forgiving. She'd let his father know.

"Hi dad," Marinette greeted him with a big hug.

Her father was a very large man, easily at least six feet tall. He had kind, brown eyes, and a mustache that twitched when he spoke. Marinette's head was easily the thickness of one of his arms. "Welcome home, sweetie," he said in reply. "Who is this?" He'd spotted Adrien.

"This is my…um…friend, Adrien. He's here to study with me," Marinette explained awkwardly.

Marinette's father moved remarkably quickly for a man of his size. He stopped just short of Adrien and started to pump his arm like a mad man. "Adrien! So nice to meet you! It's been a while since Marinette brought another friend home! You can call me Mr. Cheng! Are you staying for dinner? I make the best baguettes in all of Paris!"

"Uh…" Dumbfounded by such kindness, Adrien was speechless. He had to wave his hand around to get the feeling back once Mr. Cheng released him. "I uh, wasn't planning on staying for dinner."

"Honey, we're out of macaroons. Oh, who is this?" Marinette's mother had walked into the bakery.

Mr. Cheng spoke up before anyone. "Marinette's boyfriend, Adrien!"

"Wait what!" Adrien instantly turned pink.

Marinette, in contrast, was as red as her earrings. "No, dad! He's my friend! We're not dating!" She insisted quickly, despite wishing her father's words were true.

"What a shame," Mr. Cheng sighed, and turned to his wife. "I'll get started on making more macaroons then…"

"Thanks, honey! I'll take care of the store until then," Mrs. Cheng smiled at the two heavily embarrassed teenagers. "Did I hear the two of you were going to study?"

"Yes!" Marinette latched onto the suggestion like she were drowning. "Come on, Adrien, my room's this way."

"Leave the door open at all times," Mrs. Cheng reminded her daughter.

"Of course!"

Mrs. Cheng stopped Adrien at the door to their attached apartment. Normally, a very sweet woman by nature, it was unsettling to see such a fierce look on her face. Adrien's blood went cold. "I love Marinette and my husband's a baker, which means we can eat you alive if you hurt her."

"Oh," Adrien's green eyes were specks of fear. "Understand, Mrs. Cheng!"

"Adrien?" Marinette called from the hallway.

"I-I'll be right there!" Adrien called up to her and practically ran into the apartment.

"Have fun!" Mrs. Cheng waved pleasantly at his retreating form.

/

"So," Marinette began when Adrien walked up into her room. "What do you want to start with?" She was doing her best not to look out of breath as she swiveled casually in her desk chair. She'd frantically been stashing her many photos of Adrien away so he wouldn't see, and temporarily changing her computer's desktop background.

"Y-Your parents are, uh, really nice," Adrien laughed nervously, swallowed, and pulled on his shirt collar.

"Thanks," Marinette smiled brightly at him. "I like to think so. Anyway, uh, with physics, I'm uh…not really sure where to begin. Are we being tested on chapter four or C? Three! I meant three!"

Adrien wasn't really paying attention as he set his backpack down. "Wow," he said, surveying the room. "You've got a really nice room."

"I'm sure it's nothing compared to yours. You live in a mansion. This is just an attic bedroom," Marinette waved away the compliment.

Adrien shook his head. "No, like you really made it yours. It's cool. The only thing my dad let me customize in my room was the computer."

Marinette's eyes widened. "Really? In a massive mansion, he wouldn't let you put up posters or something in one room?"

"Nope," Adrien sighed. "I'm surprised he lets me wear the clothes I want."

Marinette looked down at her shoes. _Not even allowed to choose your own room décor?_ "I wanna be a fashion designer, so not being able to design my own room would be terrible. I'd feel so…trapped."

Adrien whipped his head around to stare at her.

Quickly, Marinette covered her mouth with her hand. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult your or your father! O-Or pretend like I understand! I-I-I'm-"

"It's okay." One of the corners of Adrien's lips turned up. "Sometimes it does feel like I'm trapped. But hey, maybe that'll change." He held up his physics and English text books. "Shall we?"

"Sure."


	4. Insecurity

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Cat Noir triumphantly fist bumped in celebration of their latest victory.

"That was almost too easy. Antibug didn't stand a chance against the two of us working together," Ladybug smiled at her partner, her hands on her hips.

"You're absolutely right, Ladybug," Cat Noir bestowed her with the usual bow, but it wasn't as lively as usual. "I must be going now," he added when his ring began its beeping warning.

"Really?" Ladybug blinked and canted her head to the side, her smile slipping off. "You don't want to stick around?"

"Not today, no. Sorry," Cat Noir bit his lip and began backing away.

"Cat Noir," Ladybug took one of his hands in her own. Her blue eyes met Cat Noir's green ones.

The confusion he saw there nearly killed Adrien's heart. He was having so much trouble just leaving after seeing that look on her face.

"What's wrong? You're never this serious. What happened to all your jokes? Are you okay?" Ladybug squeezed Cat Noir's hands harder with every word.

"Nothing's wrong. I-" The ring interrupted Cat Noir again. "I have to go, Ladybug. I'm sorry." Before she could protest, Cat Noir was bounding away over the Paris rooftops.

Ladybug's hands were still warm, but her chest felt as cold as the Antarctic. She felt like a robot as she swung home on her yoyo.

Her transformation wore off as she alighted on her home's rooftop. Tikki spiraled into being with a giggle.

"Well done today, Marinette!" Tikki chirped. Her smile fell too. "Why do you look so sad? You won the day! Hawkmoth was defeated!"

"I-I think I'm losing Cat Noir," Marinette tugged on one of her pigtails, the other arm clutching at her clothes.

"To what? How?"

"I don't know! We work great as a team, but he isn't acting like himself anymore! There's no flirting, no jokes, no…nothing anymore." Marinette chewed on the skin of her finger and began to pace.

Tikki flew back and forth along with Marinette, trying to stay in the girl's line of sight. "Marinette, you haven't done anything wrong! Maybe Cat Noir is stressed about something else and he didn't want to worry you about it since it isn't about you!"

"Yeah," Marinette nodded, more times than was necessary. "Yeah, you're right, Tikki. You're right."

Tikki nodded and hugged Marinette's cheek. "It'll be all right." She flew backwards and looked closely at Marinette. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you've developed a crush on your little kitty cat."

Marinette let out a shrill chuckle. Her stress dissolved and she waved her hand dismissively. "Me? A crush on Cat Noir? As if. Adrien is the only one for me, and he's nothing like Cat Noir."

Tikki shrugged. "I dunno. I wouldn't be too quick to make snap decisions like that. You never know."

"But Cat Noir is so… And Adrien is so…" Marinette trailed off.

"Uh huh, real convincing there," Tikki rolled her eyes, and changed topics. "If you really need to get rid of this stress you feel about Cat Noir, you could ask him if there's anything you can do to help. That way he knows you're there for him if he needs you."

"Oh Tikki, you're brilliant!" Marinette pulled her little kwami into a bone-crushing hug.

"Ugh! Marinette! Can't…breathe!" Tikki wheezed.

"Sorry!" Marinette released Tikki quickly. "But you're right! The next time I see Cat Noir, I'll let him know we're a team and I'm here for him!"

/

"Cat Noir!" Ladybug greeted quickly the moment she saw him.

"Hi Ladybug," Cat Noir replied, a warm smile on his face. "Ready to take down the Puppeteer?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's go," Cat Noir twirled his staff expertly.

"Oh wait," Ladybug put her hand out and stopped his staff from extending before he could get away. Ladybug swallowed. She was going to persist despite Cat Noir's look of confusion. "I uh…I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you if you need me."

Cat Noir blinked at her, his green eyes beautiful in the sunlight. "I know that."

Ladybug nodded, but didn't let go. "You're just a really great partner, so whatever it is you're dealing with… I just want you to know you don't have to go through it alone."

Cat Noir broke into the biggest grin Ladybug had seen in weeks. He retracted his staff and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks. I needed that."

Ladybug hugged him back, glad to have her partner back.

"Look, I am dealing with some stuff right now," Chat Noir held Ladybug at arms-length so he could look her in the eyes. "I'm not sure where I stand on it yet, but when I do, you'll be the first person to know."

"Really?" Ladybug's cheeks suddenly felt warm, and she wasn't quite sure why.

"I promise. Now don't we have an akuma to free from evil?"

"Yes we do," Ladybug smiled widely and brandished her yoyo for swinging action.

"Race you there!" Cat Noir challenged, using his staff to take the lead over the Parisian rooftops.

Ladybug was too busy laughing to worry too much about the head start he had taken. She was right on his tail the whole way there.


	5. Language of Doubt

"Alya! Alya!" Marinette called out to her friend. The day shined bright and warm, but Marinette was cold with dread. "Alya!"

"I heard you the first time, I'm not deaf," Alya chuckled turning to greet her best friend. Her smile dropped and she peered at her friend's panting. "What happened? You live less than a block away, so you shouldn't be that out of breath!"

"My mom just told me…before I left…we're going to China in a month!" Marinette panted.

"That's awesome! Good for you, girl!" Alya's smile returned. "Nab some post cards for me, will you?"

"No, you don't understand! This is terrible!"

Alya blinked in surprise. "You're right, I don't. What's so bad about vacationing in China?"

"Well, I can't speak any Chinese, and we're staying with my uncle. I can't keep speaking English or French to him! He'll think I'm being rude!"

"Oh Marinette," Alya said, shaking her head. "There's a simple solution for your crisis."

"There is?!" Marinette perked up instantly.

Unfortunately the school bell chose that moment to ring.

"I'll tell you after class. We've got a physics test that I am not failing!"

/

Marinette had hardly paid attention to her test. She knew this was not going to be good when she received the grade, but she couldn't concentrate. Alya knew how to fix her problem, and she wasn't telling her!

She practically pounced on Alya after they were dismissed. "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"

"Okay, okay! Hold your horses, girl!" Alya lead Marinette to a bench on the first floor to eat her lunch and chat.

"So what's this great idea you have?"

"Well," Alya said slowly. She smiled at Marinette's manic expression. She pulled out her lunch and bit into her sandwich, chewing methodically. "You and Adrien are tutoring each other, right?"

"Yes, he's helping me with physics and I'm helping him with English. What does that have to do with anything?!" Marinette cried exasperatedly.

"Adrien can speak Chinese as well. You can casually ask him to help you out some more!"

"But what if he thinks I'm a total idiot? I can't speak any Chinese and I end up making a mess of things!"

"Why don't you ask him what he thinks?" Alya suddenly burst into a wide grin, and waved. "Hi Adrien!"

Marinette glowered deeply at her best friend. "No! Don't call to him!" She whispered.

"Too late!" Alya answered in a singsongy voice.

"Hi Alya, hi Marinette. How do you think the test went?" Adrien ran up to the two of them.

"Just fine," Alya said.

Marinette bit her lip. She hated to break the bad news to that golden smile of Adrien's. "Not great. I couldn't remember much. I'm really sorry your tutoring is going to waste."

"Don't worry about it," Adrien smiled at Marinette, totally ignoring Alya, who smirked with satisfaction. Her work was done. "You'll get it next time. We just need to change our study habits. I'm hoping I can pass our vocab quiz in English tomorrow, so you're not alone."

Marinette turned bright pink. "Thanks, Adrien."

"Sure."

The three of them shuffled in awkward silence for a moment or two. Alya had to elbow Marinette, hard, in the stomach to break her out of her daydreams.

"Forget something?"

"Oh uh, right!" Marinette started fidgeting. Her hands became blurs she was so nervous. "Um Adrien? I was wondering… My parents told me we're going to be going to China for a couple weeks this summer-"

"That sounds great! You should grab some turquoise. The darker blues will match your eyes."

Marinette turned from pink to magenta to crimson. "Thanks, but I was wondering if you could help. Since well, you know I can't speak any Chinese and you're learning Chinese so I was wondering, well, hoping actually, if you could give me a couple pointers, or phrases, or-"

"Stop!" Adrien put his hand up. "I think I can see what you're getting at, and I'd love to help out. I can teach you some basic phrases that'll help you out when you're there."

"Really?"

"And I'll write them down for you too, just in case."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Same time as usual?"

"Same time!" Marinette nodded fervently.

"See you at your place!" Adrien waved and went to join Nino for lunch.

"More time with Adrien! I think I might melt!" Marinette cried when Adrien was safely out of earshot.

"You're on a roll!" Alya tickled her best friend affectionately. "Good luck!"

/

"Okay, say 'Wo jiao de ming zi Mar-in-ette.'" Adrien instructed patiently that afternoon.

"Okay uh, 'wo ja duh mingsi Marinette."

"Close, but don't worry you're getting there. I can make you a booklet of all the things you might need."

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"I'd hate for you to get lost in China. It's a big country, and I'd like you to come back safely. It'll be hard enough protecting the city without you."

"Huh?" Marinette cocked her head in confusion.

Adrien bristled, realizing what he'd said. "I meant, it'll be difficult for Chat Noir if Ladybug isn't around! I mean, the two of them are an unstoppable pair! You going on vacation just made me think of what would happen if they were ever separated!"

"Oh," Marinette said. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. She'd never even considered what Paris was going to do without its heroine.

Adrien pulled on the collar of his shirt. "Uh, back to Chinese. 'Wo jiao Adrien. Ni ne?' is how I'd say my name is Adrien, and ask for your name. It's shorter, so maybe that'll be easier."

"'Wo jiao Marinette?"

"Perfect!"

"Yes!"


End file.
